For author Olivia Clare Friedman, being a Southern writer calls to mind two parts of her life: her past in Louisiana and her present in Mississippi.
Friedman is originally from Baton Rouge. After earning four degrees in three different states, she now lives in Hattiesburg, where she teaches creative writing at the University of Southern Mississippi.
In her debut novel “Here Lies,” Friedman imagines what the Louisiana of her childhood might be like 20 years in the future, in 2042. In the world of the book, the landscape has been ravaged by extreme weather — the result of climate change — and the authoritarian government no longer allows traditional funerals and burials, leading the protagonist to take her deceased mother’s wishes into her own hands.
At a recent book talk at Friendly City Books, Friedman described working on her novel in various iterations for almost 10 years and how becoming a mother herself impacted the development of the story and her writing process. She has also published collections of short stories and poetry over the past decade.
Fittingly, Friedman will appear at the Mississippi Book Festival in Jackson on Aug. 20 on a panel titled Southern Fiction.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
How did you approach building the world of the book “Here Lies”?
The setting is what allowed me a way in. Thinking of this fictional Louisiana town — the flora and fauna, the people — helped me to tap into the rest of the world. Once I could see, hear and smell the setting, other parts of the world sprouted.
The characters in “Here Lies” are almost exclusively female. How did that come about?
A much earlier draft of this novel had a man in his 60s as the main character, and that draft was told in third person. Alma, our main character, was a peripheral character in that draft. Gradually, though, Alma came to make herself known to me as the narrator, and I shifted the novel to first person. From there, Alma started to make these close friendships.
You’ve published short stories and poetry prior to your novel, and you have degrees in both fiction and poetry. Do you think you will continue to write across genres, or do you find yourself gravitating toward one more than the other?
I think of myself as mainly a fiction writer, but I still write and publish poems. For my writing, I can’t imagine one without the other. The seeds of my fiction come from my poetry. I think of the sentence in prose the way I think of the line in verse. And my imagery, rhythm, even rhythm in dialogue — these are heavily influenced by my reading and writing of poetry.
Who are some of your writing influences?
Eudora Welty, Grace Paley, Zadie Smith, Lan Samantha Chang, Mark Richard, Amy Hempel, Kirstin Valdez Quade, Mary Gaitskill. And poets Carl Phillips, H.D., Li-Young Lee, Tracy K. Smith.
You wouldn’t necessarily read my writing and think of these writers immediately. But they all continue to influence me in many and various ways — their approach to the sentence, to character, to theme.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Pay attention to the world. Devote your focus to a single flower for a few minutes. Observe it, write it. Decide what matters to you, and give your attention to that. Sharpen your senses of sight, hearing, smell. From this place: write.
Emily Liner is the owner and founder of Friendly City Books, an independent bookstore and press in Columbus.
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